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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BAP, BAWP, n. [bɑp Sc. but m.Sc. + bǫp]

1. A small thick roll of bread of varying size and shape (often diamond-shaped) baked in the oven; a morning roll. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.T.Misc. (1762) 84:
And there will be lapper'd milk kebbocks, And sowens, and farls, and baps.Sc. 1929 F. M. McNeill Scots Kitchen 181:
Baps. (Traditional recipe) Flour, salt, lard, yeast, sugar, milk, water.Sh.(D) 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 15:
Shü wappit twartree flooer baps apo da butt table wi' a hjimsness [quick impatient movement] 'at wis aneugh to gee a body da herskit.Ags. 1879 T. Ormond in A. L. Fenton Forfar Poets 131:
Sonsy cheeks like hairvest baps . . . Has Muckle Kate o' Catterthun.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto Tammas Bodkin (1868) xxii.:
A bottle o' sma' ale an' a bawbee bap.Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 228:
Bawp . . . thick cake of bread.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems II. 61:
He grew — the great Macguldroch grew, On butter'd baps and ale.Rxb. c.1860 J. Younger Autobiography (1881) 33:
I'm wearyin' . . . to get a bottle o' ale and a bap wi' this last sixpence.Uls. 1910 C. C. Russell People and Language of Ulster 24:
“A penny bun” becomes “a panny bun,” or more properly “a panny bap.”

Combs.: (1) bap-faced, having a round flat pasty face, like a bap, soft and stupid-looking (ne.Sc., Ags., Per., Ayr. 1975). Cf. Eng. dough-faced; (2) bap-fit, a flat foot, and ppl.adj. bap-fittit, flat-footed (Abd. 1880; ne.Sc. 1975). (1) Kcd. 1933 L. G. Gibbon Cloud Howe (1946) 38:
That's a lesson for you, you bap-faced bitch. (2) Abd. 1948 Sunday Times (17 Oct.):
The term "bap-feet" is applied to one who being rather flat-footed, walks with a possessive gait.

Phr.: couldnae knock the stew (or flour) aff a bap, of someone who behaves ineffectually. Abd. 1993 Aberdeen Evening Express 2 Mar 7:
John Major's never lashed oot at naebody. He couldna knock the stew aff a bap.Per. 1990 Betsy Whyte Red Rowans and Wild Honey (1991) 113:
'However, as God would have it, I soon found out that he was one o' they big soft craturs that couldnae knock the flour off a bap. Was I no' glad. ... '

2. A stupid person.Uls.² 1929:
Bap, sometimes applied as a term of contempt to a stupid person.

Comb.: bap-heid, A stupid person.Gsw. 1988 George MacDonald Fraser The Sheikh and the Dustbin (1989) 59:
"It wisnae a bomb, ye bap-heid! He wis kiddin' the wogs. There wis nothin' tae it."